Update from the Field: Dangerous Streets, New Vocabulary + A Senegalese Spring

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

This week, the Kiva fellows invite you to accompany them across Africa and South and Central America: Take a walk in the streets of San Salvador. Improve your language skills by adding a few words in three of South Africa’s most widely spoken languages to your vocabulary. Look poverty in the face in Cameroon. Continue by learning more about the latest riots in Senegal. Find out how money helps to provide dignity in Ecuador. And finish by learning about the importance of family unity in El Salvador.

Walking the Streets
Country: El Salvador / Fellow: John Farmer (KF15)
Do you think that pick-pocketing and purse-snatching are the only dangers of walking the streets of San Salvador? John tells us about some of the less-known dangers.

Video Blog: The Many, Many, Many Languages of South Africa
Country: South Africa / Fellow: Daniel Jung (KF15)
Daniel teaches us a few words in three of the most widely spoken languages of South Africa, an ethically diverse country with no less than eleven official languages.

Faces of Poverty?
Country: Cameroon / Fellow: Faith Garlington (KF15)
Faith takes a look at poverty in Cameroon and discovers that the face of of poverty may look different from what we expect.

A Senegalese Spring?
Country: Senegal / Fellow: Tim Young (KF15)
Tim takes a critical look at the current wave of riots in Senegal, draws a parallel to the revolutionary movements that swept through its Islamic cousins north of the Sahara, and apparently gets his mother very worried.

Mud Walls to Mechanical Looms: Borrowers’ Stories
Country: Ecuador / Fellow: Megan Bond (KF15)
“Money is freedom and confidence and choice. And choice is dignity.” – Megan explores how this statement translates into Ecuadorian reality.

Prehistoric Drawings and Four Intertwined Client Visits
Country: El Salvador / Fellow: John Farmer (KF15)
John takes an intense trip through the rural mountains of eastern El Salvador, which makes him think about the importance of family unity.

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Updates from the past month:
Zulu Weddings, More Country-Specific Microfinance + Fighting Crime
Roads, Remittances + the “Little Paris” of Togo
New Partners, Country-Specific Microfinance + Stories of a Kiva Fellowship
Mosquito Nets, Rock Climbing + Clearing the Air
Instability, Trust + A New Home
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Plus more pictures from the past week: